Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Good morning and welcome back!

Hopefully everyone has came out of Fair Week relatively unscathed!

This morning I would like for us to take a look at the book of Colossians, specifically chapter 3, the first eleven verses.

The Book of Colossians, or the “Letter to the Colossians,” which is actually what it is was written to the Christians at the church of Colossae.

And the letter is one of Paul’s many letters to the churches.

Now, some things about the town of Colossae, it was a town in Asia about 100 miles west of Ephesus and about 12 miles south of Laodicea.

And, at one time Colossae was a booming town but during Paul's time had began to lose it economic structure and base.

And Paul is writing this letter to address these Christians there, who were mostly Gentile converts (like us).

These new Christians were striving and struggling to live the Christian life and were being bombarded by the Heresies and fleshliness of the world, that was trying to destroy their new found salvation.

Specifically they were being attacked with this idea of Syncretistiscm that combined elements of Gnosticism, paganism, Judaism, and Christianity into this mess that they called a religion.

Sort of like we see today, they took the most popular ideas from Christianity and Judaism, and wrapped some fleshly, worldly desires around it and called it true religion.

So, Paul is prompted to write this letter to combat these false ideas and also to encourage the believers to stay true to Christ above all else.

This is the significance of our focus here in chapter three.

The chapter is actually divided into four parts, and we will talk about two of them this morning.

Verses 1-4, that talk about Seeking Heaven not Earth.

And verses 5-11, that talk about Putting off the Old Man.

So, let’s read through our verses and get right into this morning.

Colossians 3, starting in verse 1, Paul writes . . .

Scripture Focus

Seek Heaven and Not Earth

So, we find here that Paul is being his usually cheery and uplifting self, reminding people of how things should be.

And he starts off again in verse 1 . . .

And I really, really like how Paul starts off his address to these people.

He tells them, since then, you have been raised with Christ, and what he is saying is since you claim you have been saved by Jesus Christ . . .

There should be some things that you should be seeking after.

And what are those things?

Things from above.

Things from heaven.

The things of God and not the things of humanity and the earth.

So, that naturally begs the question, what are the things of heaven?

What’s the difference between the things of heave and the things of earth?

Well, the things of earth are things like:

Wealth

Power

Fame

Pleasure

Instant gratificaiton

Popularity

Basically all things created by man, in an attempt to imitate or replace God.

Those are the things of earth.

So, what about the things of heaven.

Well, they consist of things like:

Eternal life

Peace

Joy

Happiness

Living in the presence of God

Borrowing again from our friend Mr. Tozer from last week, this is what he says about the verses I just read: "Of all the calamities that have been visited upon this world and its inhabitants, the willing surrender of the human spirit to materialistic values is the worst!

We who were made for higher worlds are accepting the ways of this world as the ultimate.

That is a tragedy of staggering proportions."

And, that my friends is the problem that Paul is trying to help this new Christians avoid.

He does not want them falling victim or falling into the trap of the world.

He wants them to follow his friend John’s teaching, when John tells us plainly to . . .

And it is just not 1st Century Christians that this applies to.

The same thing holds true for us today.

We've all heard the old saying, "Home is where the heart is."

Well, where is your heart?

Is it here on earth or there in Heaven?

That my friends determines where your home is.

And if heaven is not your home, then you are in trouble.

If your heart is not in heaven then YOUR HEART IS NOT WITH GOD.

You are not where you need to be.

And you need to examine your place and relationship with God.

In that same passage I read from Tozer’s work, he also asks a question.

He states: “Moses turned his back on the pleasures and treasures of Egypt.

Would we, could we turn our backs on the cash, the comforts, the conveniences we have in order to be the people of God?”

And we don’t have to answer that out loud.

We know the answer to that in our hearts.

If the answer is "no," then don't wait until the end of the sermon.

Come now and make things right with God.

We'll wait if we need to or we can preach right on while your praying.

Don't let Satan rob you of an opportunity to make things right between you and the Lord.

Because honestly, the next section of what we are getting into can't apply to you until you get things straight with God in the first place.

Put Off the Old Man

Starting in verse 5, Paul writes . . .

Over in Ephesians 4, Paul also writes . . .

So, it is all about putting off the old and putting on the new.

He tells them to Put to Death whatever belongs to your earthly nature.

In essence he is telling us to destroy the strength and vitality of the flesh.

We are to subdue (bring under subjection) the flesh, even to the point of recognizing the shame and embarrassment that is manifest in the flesh.

And this is a point Paul makes time and time again.

In 1 Corinthians 9, he puts it this way . . .

Now Paul isn’t saying we are to run around beating ourselves.

He is saying we are to put the things of God first.

We are to keep the main thing the main thing.

We are to discern what is most important and that comes first.

And the most important is not the flesh.

It is not the things that draw us away from God here.

It is the things of heaven.

It is the prize at the end of the race—eternal life.

And we need to do whatever we can to try and achieve that goal.

And we need to be helping each other achieve that goal.

NOT judging each other for our faults and shortcomings, but HELPING each other overcome them.

So, what are they?

What are these things we are to avoid and overcome?

Here in Colossians, Paul says they are things like . .

.sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, greed, idolatry, anger, rage, malice, slander, filthy language, and lying.

In Galatians 5, Paul talks about them this way as well . . .

And some of these things us “Good Upstanding Christian” people have overcome and don’t have issues with.